A determinedly eccentric old guy's journey while living a bicycle lifestyle.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Making Local More Accessible . . . With Your Help

No matter how accessible the world is as a result of digital
communications there’s nothing better than finding things that are “as
good as it gets” and available locally; just down the street
or across town. The Haile Village Farmers’ Market
is, as anyone who has read my postings already knows, one of my
favorite places to shop locally. Local produce, coffee, eggs, milk and
cheese are sold alongside locally made candies, breads and pastries and
ethnic entrees and sides.

Some of the vendors have expanded their cottage industries to become
commercial businesses and their products are available more widely. One
vendor who wants to do this is Nana
Pat's Goodies who makes some fine mustard! As I have
said previously, I am not a mustard guy, or I was not. But if your
mustard-concepts come from visits to baseball games in the 1950s where bright
yellow mustard slathered on steamed hot dogs was the standard and you
haven’t progressed beyond an occasional Grey Poupon commercial or
Gulden’s Spicy Brown, then it’s time to become more adventuresome and
Pat would like to make it easier to do so.

I, the former, non-mustard kinda guy, would not be without one of Nana
Pat’s varieties in the ‘frig. Doesn’t take much to edge a good roast
beef sandwich into being a great one, especially if it’s made with
flavorful, homemade bread! Adding her mustard to a roll filled with sausage
and ‘kraut amplifies the savory goodness. And she even makes a bicycle related mustard using Fat Tire Beer!

Nana Pat’s Goodies are available every Saturday morning in The Village
of Haile and her customer base is comprised of people who recognize a
quality product. Pat and that guy who hangs out with her are moving
toward going commercial, but would like to have some financial
assistance with an initial run of their product and have chosen to take
a digital route. GoFundMe is one of those online enterprises that
presents ideas and seeks funds to provide financial support to turn the
idea into a reality. Unlike telecom before the ’00 crash, Nana Pat’s
idea is not vaporware, it’s a tangible, honest product that she’d like
to make more accessible. The upside to seeking funding this way is that
she doesn’t have to plunge into debt to a lending institution. The
upside to everyone else is greater access to her culinary skills.

Nana Pat’s request, along with a brief video can be found on the
GoFundMe site at GoFundMe.com/i288xg. I should add
that she isn’t looking for tens of thousands of dollar to make a
levitating mustard, just a few thou' to defray costs for a
substantial initial production run of her most popular flavor,
"Midnight Oil Stout Molasses Mustard". Made with Midnight Oil
Stout, a dark beer produced by local
brewery, Swamp Head, it's thick and rich,
with coffee and oatmeal notes that come from the top quality
ingredients the folks at Swamp Head Brewery use.